Official UK procurement notice
External Legal Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: De Montfort University (Education)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDe Montfort University ("the University") wishes to establish a new panel of external legal expertise and flexible resources to support the in-house legal services team to address gaps in existing legal expertise, periods of absence, lack of internal capacity, peak demand at short notice and projects. It is intended that this panel will comprise of up to three suppliers, with a contract duration of four years.
The University is conducting the procurement using the open procedure in accordance with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA2023) for the purpose of procuring the services described in the Specification (Requirements).
A Planned Procurement Notice has previously been published to the Find a Tender Service regarding this procurement, ref. 2025/S 000-034543.
More details including the full Invitation to Tender pack are available on the In-Tend e-tendering portal: in-tendhost.co.uk/demontfort/aspx/Home ↗
CPV: Legal services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Closed framework
- Call-offs
- call-offs may be awarded directly or by further competition
- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Oct 2026
Published description of the framework
Allocation of work
The allocation of work will be based on one of two procedures - "Direct Award" and "Further Competition":
Direct award
The University will contract directly with suppliers on the framework and will select the most appropriate supplier for provision of the services based on supplier suitability for the instruction at hand, and ability to meet the University's timelines.
Further Competition
The University may choose to complete requirements by way of further competition under the framework. The University will prepare a short outline of our requirements and send it out to the suppliers and ask them to quote for the work. Typically, this will be awarded to the most cost-effective and suitable supplier.
No pricing submitted as part of the 'further competition' may be above the Ceiling Rates (i.e., the prices quoted in the tender submission)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£2,800,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (2)
- Price
- Quality
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “External Legal Services” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract: call-offs may be direct or by further competition.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 18 Jun 2026, 10:55 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Jun 2026, 10:55 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 24 Sept 2026
- Authority reference
1923- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057447- Accelerated
- Qualifying planned procurement notice
- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05521bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 23 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tender response must be completed and uploaded to the In-Tend portal (in-tendhost.co.uk/demontfort/aspx/Home ↗) by 12:00hrs, Thursday 23rd July 2026.
It is the Tenderer's responsibility to ensure that their Tender is complete, prepared and submitted in accordance with the instructions and requirements contained within this ITT and signed and dated where required.
Timeline
23 Jun 2025 → 1 Oct 2026 · 6 dates- Planning notice published23 Jun 2025, 23:15 BST
- Next notice expected5 Aug 2025, 00:59 BST
- Tender notice published124 days ago18 Jun 2026, 10:55 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends89 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown23 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by26 days ago24 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts20 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 23 Jun 2025- Planned procurement notice published23 Jun 2025, 23:15 BSTUK3
- Planned procurement notice published23 Jun 2025, 23:27 BSTUK3
- Planned procurement notice published24 Jun 2025, 00:21 BSTUK3
- Tender notice published18 Jun 2026, 10:55 BSTUK4
Published amendments (2)
Amended to update "Scope"
Amended to update "Scope" , "Documents".
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeOfficial documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender